{"id":46348,"date":"2023-02-08T21:22:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T21:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smg.go-vip.net\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2023\/02\/08\/a-return-to-the-philippines\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:44:18","slug":"a-return-to-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/08\/a-return-to-the-philippines\/","title":{"rendered":"A return to the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been more than 30 years since the U.S. Navy said goodbye to Naval Station Subic Bay and other bases in the Philippines, ending what had been nearly a century of U.S. military presence in the Asian nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The amphibious assault ship Belleau Wood became the last Navy vessel to leave Subic Bay in 1992, following a series of failed negotiations between the two countries that resulted in the Philippine senate voting against hosting any more U.S. bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Washington Post report from the time of the U.S. departure suggests the fracture between the two longtime allies was partly due to a post-Cold War scaling back of America\u2019s worldwide presence, among other concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That dispatch notes how the top Navy commander at the time, Rear Adm. Robert Mercer, led a mile-long procession through the neighboring city of Olongapo on the day of the farewell ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBar girls and bystanders wept, elderly men saluted, and people reached out to shake Navy officers\u2019 hands or ask for their autographs as the parade heralded the end of a nearly century-old ear,\u201d the Post reported on Nov. 24, 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/02\/us-to-widen-military-presence-in-philippines\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23033153582990.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">\u2018A big deal\u2019: US, Philippines tighten military ties<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The United States and the Philippines have announced an expansion of America\u2019s military presence in the Southeast Asian country.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI know this is not goodbye, but just farewell for now,\u201d Mercer said in his goodbye speech. \u201cWe hope to come back \u2026 as soon as we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flash forward 32 years, and the Navy appears poised to make a return of some sorts to the Philippines under an agreement announced Feb. 2 by the two nations that will grant U.S. forces access to nine bases across the country, an increase from the five Philippine installations from which U.S. forces can currently operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much has changed in the region since the 1992 departure: namely, China has ascended and sought to assert its primacy in the South China Sea, while building up its military and ratcheting up the rhetoric about a forced reunification with Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Feb. 2 announcement comes as the United States continues to marshal other nations to its side in what it frames as an existential battle for the current world order against China, and as the new Philippine president appears to be increasingly concerned with Chinese meddling in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Philippines_Austin_web.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-82090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Philippines_Austin_web.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Philippines_Austin_web.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Philippines_Austin_web.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Philippines_Austin_web.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,537 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III is welcomed to the Philippine Department of National Defense in Manila Feb. 2. (Chad J. McNeeley\/DoD)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.\u2019s willingness to allow more U.S. military on its soil suggests that Manila \u201cis backing off on the balancing it attempted to do over the last decade between the U.S. and China,\u201d said Bryan Clark, a retired submariner and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt appears that the Philippines is more firmly an ally of the U.S. again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How the new agreement between the two countries will play out remains unclear. It could mean more Navy port calls in Subic Bay and elsewhere on the northern island of Luzon, which abuts the South China Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It could mean more cross-navy training or stashing of materiel should a shooting war with Beijing kick off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But it likely won\u2019t involve the numbers of sailors and ships that once defined the Navy\u2019s presence in the archipelago nation, or even the permanent basing of troops there, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said when announcing the new agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the number of U.S. troops remains unclear, Austin signaled that the new agreement is \u201ca really big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Standing next to his Philippine counterpart, Carlito Galvez, officer in charge of the department of national defense, while announcing the expanded pact, Austin stressed how an added U.S. presence on the island nation would allow the longtime treaty allies to work and train together for things like natural disaster responses, while helping both nations counter China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe shall continue to work towards maintaining a stable, rule-based, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region,\u201d Galvez said, according to a Pentagon transcript of the press conference. \u201cAlong with partner countries, we strongly oppose any unilateral action or attempt to disrupt current world order and share the same views, that all countries should resolve any issue peacefully and adhere to the international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although it remains unclear how many U.S. sailors will eventually rotate through the Philippines under this new agreement, the Navy is the tip of the spear when it comes to stifling China\u2019s assertions in the region, including its claim that the South China Sea is territorial, not international waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover1_web.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-82092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover1_web.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover1_web.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover1_web.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover1_web.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,537 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An F\/A-18E Super Hornet with Strike Fighter Squadron 137 prepares to launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Nimitz in the Philippine Sea Dec. 2. The Nimitz is in U.S. 7th fleet to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (MC2 Justin McTaggart\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, any new ally and capabilities can likely be seen as benefiting the sea service\u2019s mission in the region, while buttressing the ranks of countries siding against Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Austin ruled out permanent U.S. bases in the Philippines, Clark suspects the new arrangement will be akin to what the United States currently enjoys with Singapore and Australia: a modest, permanent U.S. command element and a regular troop rotation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An increased U.S. military presence in the Philippines offers \u201cmore options for U.S. forces to respond to Chinese aggression, especially in situations short of major war,\u201d Clark noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMoreover, it helps reassure the Philippines that the U.S. alliance is firm,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the end, dissuading China may come down to whether the U.S. can show nations in the region that the U.S. is the security partner of choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>A bevy of options<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two countries are also moving \u201cexpeditiously\u201d to build up the sites from which U.S. forces operate, according to the Defense Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Already, the United States has invested $82 million to improve infrastructure on the five bases already in use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The expansion and current U.S. access falls under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, that was inked by both nations in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two countries have already increased the speed of construction plans at the five existing sites, Gregory Poling, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies\u2019 Southeast Asian Program and Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, wrote on the think tank\u2019s website the day the deal was announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of those five current locations, three are ideally located to contain China and protect the economic interests of the Philippines in the South China Sea, Poling wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basa Air Base and Fort Magsaysay sit on Luzon, the archipelago\u2019s largest northernmost island that abuts the South China Sea to the north and west, he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basa is critical to air patrols around Scarborough Shoal, a structure-less rock in the South China Sea that has hosted Chinese coast guard forces for the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Antonio Bautista Air Base is located on Palawan, an island within a few hundred miles of the disputed Spratly Islands, where China has built military outposts, Poling noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those first five sites were mostly focused on air force and army capabilities. It remains unclear whether any of the new sites would involve the massive ship repair and supply efforts that Navy\u2019s base at Subic Bay once offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1199\" height=\"629\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover2_web.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-82093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover2_web.jpg.jpg 1199w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover2_web.jpg.jpg?resize=300,157 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover2_web.jpg.jpg?resize=768,403 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Navy-Cover2_web.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,537 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1199px) 100vw, 1199px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Seaman Semajia Marshal heaves a mooring line on the guided-missile cruiser Antietam during a port visit to Manila, Philippines, on June 26, 2018. (MC2 William McCann\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poling suspects that some of the new sites will be focused on naval needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe new locations should include navy, and perhaps marine corps, bases as well,\u201d he wrote. \u201cAt least one more location in Palawan, such as the Oyster Bay naval base, seems likely given the allied focus on the South China Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another site or two might be located on the southern island of Mindanao, where U.S. forces have helped their hosts fight the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group since after 9\/11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But any new sites on Luzon, the large northern island that hosts the capital Manila \u201cwill be the most telling,\u201d according to Poling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe new Philippine Navy facility at the former Hanjin Shipyard in Subic Bay is one possibility,\u201d he notes. \u201cAnother is a facility in northern Luzon, such as coastal Cagayan Province, which could aid in surveillance, prepositioning of equipment and rear area support in Taiwan contingencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAny facility up on the coast of Cagayan province, 200 miles from Taiwan and 1,000 miles from the Spratlys, it\u2019s pretty obvious that site will be for other operations outside the South China Sea,\u201d Poling told Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Links in the island chain<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While no date has been announced for when the countries will lay out the four new sites, Poling suspects it could happen when Austin and Galvez meet again this spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crucially, the new agreement also helps solidify the \u201cfirst island chain,\u201d a string of U.S.-allied countries and territories stretching from Japan down to Taiwan and further south and west that would be crucial for closing off the East and South China seas should conflict break out with Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get it done without forces in the Philippine Islands,\u201d said James Holmes, a retired Navy officer and chair of maritime strategy at the Naval War College. \u201cThere\u2019s a huge gap in the chain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To Holmes, current bases available to America are too geographically distant for countering Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and deterring Beijing from attacking Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can\u2019t do it with any hope of success from Okinawa, Sasebo or Yokosuka, let alone Guam,\u201d he said of current U.S. bases in the region. \u201cYou have to be there to compete, and to be there you need nearby bases for supplies, fuel and R&amp;R.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The longtime ally could again host U.S. naval forces in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":82086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"8":{"categories":["federal-oversight","home","govcon"],"primary_category":"federal-oversight"},"10":{"categories":["defending-the-pacific","smr","asia-pacific","global","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","naval"],"primary_category":"defending-the-pacific"}}},"categories":[101,23,88,12,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3355],"class_list":["post-46348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-left-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"The US Navy will likely be in China\u2019s backyard, again, but don\u2019t expect another Subic Bay ","legacy_arc_id":"NN5YPYK4TNAHLMFUNBOFJKBBOQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/08\/a-return-to-the-philippines\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A return to the Philippines - Navy Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The longtime ally could again host U.S. naval forces in the not-too-distant future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2023\/02\/08\/a-return-to-the-philippines\/\" \/>\n<meta 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